Despite the exceptional advances in research in the field of medicine, drugs, and surgery, there seems to be no complete cure* or even real relief from symptoms in most cases of such chronic disorders.

The increasing* frequency of diseases and their incurability have led more and more individuals to live at the mercy of life-long medication. Statistics show that nearly 81% Americans take at least one medication every day.

Despite this there does not seem to be any improvement in the overall disease status of the population. On the other hand, it seems to gradually worsen.

Identifying the gaps of Conventional Medicine

When it comes to the traditional approach of treating diseases, it involves diagnosing the disease based on an identification of symptoms. Once diagnosed, treatment involves medications that remedy the symptoms, which indicates that the disease has been cured.

This approach works fine for diseases like flu, cough, jaundice, diarrhea, etc. However, it fails when chronic conditions like diabetes, heart diseases, thyroid disorders or psychological diseases like ADHD come into picture.

The chief concern with traditional medicine is that it often lacks a holistic approach to the person. It is important to understand that no action taking place in our body occurs in an isolated set up. All the systems in our body and their functioning are interconnected and interdependent.

Just like a simple act of holding an object involves the coordination of the eyes, hands, and brain at the least, the inability of production of insulin is not limited to the panaceas but is a product of a combination of myriad genetic and biochemical abnormalities.

Thus, giving insulin injections to a diabetic does help in alleviating symptoms, but it does little to treat* the root cause of the disease. Similarly, for a patient suffering from high cholesterol, ideal treatment should aim at lowering the increased production of cholesterol and not only to clear the high levels of cholesterol from the body.

Conventional medicine lacks answers on many of these fronts yet.

What is Functional Medicine?

As discussed above, conventional medicine has is a disease-centered approach of practice. On the other hand, functional medicine takes a more patient-centric approach, where the whole individual rather than a particular disease is targeted.

It is important to know that functional medicine is not an entirely new discipline, but it can be better defined as an evolution of medical practice that is more suitable for the healthcare needs of the current population.

In contrast to the traditional approach where treatment of the condition is the sole responsibility of the practitioner, in functional medicine, responsibility of treatment lies in the hands of both the doctor and the patient.

Principles of Functional Medicine

It uses a bottom-up approach rather than a top-down approach where the pattern that causes the dysfunction before manifestation of the disease is identified first.

It believes in a systems-approach where the individual and the disease is seen as an integrated system and not as independent organs.

The uniqueness of every individual as regards genetics, biochemistry, and physiology are accounted for when considering treatment. Functional medicine believes that there is no one-size-fits-all.

Functional medicine takes a holistic approach when it comes to treating diseases. Healing of the mind, body, and spirit in totality is considered as being vital.

This is an integrated approach with uses a combination of modalities along with conventional medicine. These include chiropractic, traditional Chinese medicine, yoga and meditation, physical therapy, etc.

Functional medicine acknowledges that diseases are a manifestation of the genome with the environment. Thus lifestyle factors such as stress, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, etc. are accounted for in the treatment regimen.

Why do we Need Functional Medicine?

We can without any doubt say that medical science today is at its very best in all the centuries that mankind has witnessed.

With path-breaking research, advent of modern technology, and large scale studies being conducted throughout the globe we are better able to process and implement the knowledge being generated. In spite of that, the rate of complicated chronic diseases is on the rise.

No modern medicine or intervention is able to completely cure* diseases like diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disorders, etc. This can be attributed to the acute intervention approach of conventional western medicine.

It often does not address the root cause of the disease and focuses on treating the symptoms as in the case of diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease.

On the other hand, functional medicine treats* every patient as an individual with a unique set of problems and does not classify patients based on their diseases.

Thus, not all patients with diabetes will be given the same treatment regimen. Treatment of the patient will be considered after studying his genetic makeup, lifestyle, his and his family’s medical history.

It also takes into account the emotional and mental history of the patient as it impacts the patient’s health.

Today ample data from research shows that conventional western medicine when combined with alternative therapies like functional medicine helps to achieve better patient outcomes.

Thus, functional medicine can be considered as a truly modern medical science that provides the best treatment approach to patient keeping overall health in mind.

Dr. Adonis Maiquez is known as Miami’s leading expert on Healthy Aging and has helped hundreds of patients to feel their best as they age through his philosophy of modern medicine. He believes in the importance of treating the root cause of disease and not just prescribing medication to take care of the symptoms. Dr. Adonis is a board certified functional medicine doctor and Medical Director at the prestigious Carillon Miami Wellness Resort. He began his career as a Neurosurgeon specialized in the pituitary gland which controls hormone production and uses his knowledge in the application of hormone therapy for Healthy Aging. He is a member of the International Hormone Society skilled at using bio-identical hormones to restore body chemistry affected by menopause and an active member of the Institute for Functional Medicine.
To learn more visit www.DrAdonis.com/home or follow Dr. Adonis on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and LinkedIn.

Advertising Disclosure

The content that appears on this page is presented as an overview vs. comparative marketing. The provided information includes product information, overviews, buying guides, and product specifications. All trademarks, registered trademarks and service-marks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners. If something is factually inaccurate please contact us and let us know. By contributing your product facts helps to better serve our readers and the accuracy of the content.

The table below does not include all companies or all available products in the market but those that we promote as their affiliates. In full compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume that any and all links on the table are affiliate links, and we may receive compensation if you click one of these and make a purchase. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own. All editorial content is written without prejudice or bias, regardless of sponsor or affiliate associations.

Something we believe is that every page on the website should be created for a purpose. Our Quality Page Score is therefore a measurement of how well a page achieves that purpose. A page's quality score is not an absolute score however, but rather a score relative to other pages on the website that have a similar purpose. It has nothing to do with any product ratings or rankings. It's our internal auditing tool to measure the quality of the on the page content. There are a number of factors that determine the Page Score of a given page. Landing page quality is a factor in determining Page Score. Landing page quality generally refers to whether or not the overall page contains relevant and original content to the web page visitor. The content quality value of a web page is determined by comparing a page to known quality patterns and each pattern carries a different weighting in how it affects the overall content quality value of a page. We also factor in user generated feedback on this form plus a page quality algorithm. Since web pages content can change, the content quality value of a web page is updated periodically

Your Rating*

Were you able to find the information you were looking for on our website? YesNo